Megalo Box 2 is concluding very soon as the second-to-last episode finished airing. Focusing almost entirely on Mac, audiences got a chance to look and experience his backstory for the first time in the anime. What’s more, Joe and the rest of the team nowhere are slowly preparing for the fight as they train together one last time. I will be explaining the best parts of the episode and what might happen in the finale.
In the last episode, we last saw Mac as he wandered away from his family after learning the truth behind his surgery. Moreover, Mac goes into a depressive state similar to Joe during the beginning of the series.
However, Macs’ life turns better when he meets his friend Hakeem who he hasn’t seen since he left the police force. Additionally, interacting with Hakeem causes Mac to remember the good old days and listen to music from a local busker. What’s more, the music is the same song that Joe listens to at the beginning of Megalo Box 2.
The song connects both characters in personality and arcs while also showing Macs’ backstory from meeting his wife to his surgery. Afterward, Mac returns home to his family and is determined to fight Joe on his terms.
Meanwhile, Joe is slowly training his body to prepare for the fight against Mac. Training under both Aragaki and Yuri, Joe happily trains with his reunited family for his last battle in the ring. However, while Joe wants to fight with the gear that Chief once wore at the beginning of the show, the team quickly realizes that they need to modify the gear to suit Joes’ needs.
Team Nowhere has to modify the gear so that it fits Joe while maintaining defense. However, changing the equipment doesn’t mean removing what Joe has learned in Megalo Box 2. Instead, it allows him to carry Chief’s legacy alongside Nanbu’s. Essentially, Joe is unifying the experiences he had at the beginning of the series alongside his renewed redemption towards the series finale.
Megalo Box 2 can stand on its own out of other shows in the anime season. However, the series is also unpredictable because it doesn’t go the same route as its spiritual predecessor, Ashita No Joe. As a result, the finale might not be what audiences expect, similar to how the first season ended. Regardless, Megalo Box 2’s finale will likely be a subversion to what fans might hope.
I would argue that the finale of the series will be less about the fight and more about how Joe and Macs’ stories will converge, similar to the story of the Hummingbird and the Nomad presented in the show. Joe is possibly the new hummingbird to Macs’ story; whether that will lead to a possible death remains to be seen.
Screenshots via official Twitter
Megalobox 2 Official Twitter
© Asao Takamori, Tetsuya Chiba/Kodansha/MEGALOBOX2 project. All Rights Reserved.